@betajet - No kidding, Back to School was filmed at UWM? I had no idea. Met at least one UWM transfer student back then in the mid 1980's when I was at Case Western Reserve University. Visited Cornell once, although it was right after I graduated from CWRU in 1988. Absolutely beautiful campus nestled among the mountains in New York's gorgeous Finger Lakes region. Another beautiful campus in the Northeast is Univ of New Hampshire where I went my freshman year before I transferred to CWRU in 1984. Not quite as isolated as Cornell, UNH is ~1 hour drive from Boston. Personally, I don't get why people would want to live right in the city. Suburbia or a bit further out there with ~1 hour drive to a major city is just about perfection if you ask me. Best to you, Rishabh in your college career. My pre-teen boys (ages 9 and 10) will be there in high school and looking into college before long. Even their birthdays correspond to greats in physics and EE (March 24 = Gustave Robert Kirchhoff and June 13 = James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas Young [Young's modulus and wave theory of light])!

I attended MIT in the late 70's and it felt like home. Campus was work, study and some fun but downtown Boston was within easy walking distance. Transit for the local region was cheap and convenient. I had attended two other universities in Canada for short periods but they just didn't present the same exciting opportunities which were available on the north side of Back Bay in Cambridge, MA.

I visited over 2 dozen other college campuses across the US and Canada during that same period and few compared as well. I would heartily recommend Boston area as one of the top regions to attend college.

Although relationships are important in life I would say that going to the college where you think that you can get the best education should be your top priority. If your girlfriend/boyfriend has the same interest as you then that's great. If not, then it's better to go your seperate ways. College is going to cost you a lot of money and it's important to get something more than a relationship out of it.

I'm sure visiting colleges outside America would give students a new perspective on this topic and I encourage students to do that if they can. With my internship this year I unfortunately didn't have the time to make anymore trips.

Interesting observation by a future engineer. I am curious how much of those college road trip (actually visiting the campuses) will eventually become a deciding factor for which college candidates want to attend.

Cornell is certainly a great college and I would love to be there. It's just a little different from other colleges in the sense that it gives more of a "country" feeling with the horseback riding nearby and a lot of nature surrounding the campus. I can imagine it being calming at times and a little boring at other times. The harry potter campus though was pretty cool.

Oh, you got my interest with Cornell University. Huge Harry Potter fan here. But seriously, it's a life-deciding decision for any student. I've met guys, who were displeased with their choice of the University to the point they threw it. Myself, I was a rather absent-minded student and constantly had to use services like http://dissertationwritinglab.com/ to stay afloat. But I've made it till the very end and do not regret years I've spent a bit. Although it would be nice to go back and see how the place changed trough these years.

I didn't attend any of these universities, but have visited many. Excellent choices all. I loved the "feel" of Michigan's campus. I suspect Rishabh will not be going to Cornell! This is a great perspective piece, I am going to share it with our local robotics team members--many of whom are future engineers too.